Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity

Detached three- or four-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, dated 1838, on a rectangular plan. "Improved", pre-1863, producing present composition. Renovated, ----, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, concrete coping to gables including concrete coping to gable to entrance (south) front with granite ashlar buttressed gabled bellcote to apex framing embossed cast-bronze bell, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slightly overhanging rendered slate flagged eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined battered walls on rendered "bas-relief" plinth with roughcast-panelled rusticated rendered quoins to corners. Lancet window openings with cut-granite sills, and rendered flush surrounds framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Pointed-arch opposing door openings (south) with rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing replacement fittings. Full-height interior with carpeted central aisle between replacement timber pews, grouped timber stations between stained glass windows (----), carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (north) reordered, ----, with cut-veined white marble Gothic-style high altar, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on "Acanthus"-detailed ceiling roses. Set in relandscaped grounds.

A church erected under the aegis of Reverend Thomas Scallan PP (1778-1849) representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one showing the hallmarks of a period of construction coinciding with the dismantling of the Penal Laws under the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1829, suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along a liturgically-incorrect axis; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Gothic theme; and the handsome bellcote embellishing the roofline as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape: meanwhile, aspects of the composition illustrate 'the extensive repairs and restorations which [Reverend Loftus Brennan (1798-1866)] deemed it necessary to make on the church' (Lacy 1863, 506). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the historic or original fabric, both to the exterior and to the restrained interior reordered (----) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where Celtic Art Deco-like stained glass attributable to the Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios (closed 1973) of Dublin (cf. 15615002); a much modified high altar; and plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the modest artistic potential of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a rural street scene.